1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to an improved data processing system, and in particular to a method and system for managing the presentation of multimedia data sets having a plurality of topics within a multimedia presentation operating within a data processing system. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system for graphically associating topics within a multimedia data set with a selected portion of a graphic control mechanism and thereafter utilizing the graphic control mechanism to manage the presentation of the multimedia data set.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer systems are capable of communicating information with humans in many formats, including: text, graphics, sounds (including high-fidelity stereo), animated graphics, synthesized speech, and video. "Multimedia" means utilizing several communication sources contemporaneously. A multimedia presentation utilizes a data processing system to combine such information formats into a coherent and comprehensive presentation. Multimedia brings together a variety of hardware and software tools with the common goal of utilizing a data processing system in a manner which involves the human senses, especially sight and hearing, and which gives users the sense of interactive control of the data processing system.
One advantage of a multimedia presentation is the ability to convey to a user large amounts of information quickly and efficiently. Such an ability to process large amounts of data may also be a disadvantage for users and programmers of multimedia systems. For example, most data processing system users want immediate access to particular information without having to wait during presentations of undesired data or without spending an unreasonable amount of time manipulating hardware and software attempting to locate desired data. Often, the desired data is only a small fraction of the size of the data set containing the desired data. For example, consider a data set representing an hour-long speech by a political candidate. The desired data may be audio and video data representing a single sentence from the hour-long speech.
In known data processing systems, several graphic control mechanisms have been utilized to permit a user to select a desired location within a multimedia presentation. Such graphic control mechanisms include "scroll bars," "spin button controls" and "slider controls." A user may use such control mechanisms to select a starting point from which to begin a multimedia presentation, or to find a particular location in order to modify data, create new data, or perform some other editing function. The location may be referenced by the relative time from the beginning of the multimedia presentation, or the location may be referenced to a known frame number within the multimedia presentation.
One example of a scheme used to reference data which is presented in the time domain is the time code utilized by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE time code). The SMPTE time code assigns each frame of a video presentation a unique number which allows for indexing and precise video tape control. The SMPTE time code signal may be recorded as a modulated audio signal on an audio channel, as a dedicated address track (called Longitudinal Time Code, or LTC), or as a visible digital signal in the vertical blanking interval above the active picture area (called Vertical Interval Time Code, or VTC). Frames are identified in an hours-minutes-seconds-frames format. For example, 01:14:34:12 refers to the 12th frame in the 35th second in the 15th minute in the second hour.
By utilizing such referencing systems for time domain data sets, data processing system users may quickly and efficiently access a particular frame of data among thousands of frames. However, a particular frame address may not have meaning for a user attempting to select a portion of a multimedia presentation or a user attempting to edit a multimedia presentation. If the frames are referenced only by a unique frame identifier, such as a SMPTE time code, a user may be able to estimate where a desired portion of data is located; however, the user may frequently have to spend substantial time searching for the desired location. A multimedia system user is more likely to intuitively understand, and more likely to be able to access desired data, utilizing a multimedia system in which the user may access data within a multimedia presentation by referring to an idea, topic, or relative location, rather than by referring to portions of the data set by a range of SMPTE time codes.
In view of the above, it should be appreciated that a need exists for a method and system for providing access to particular portions of a multimedia presentation by manipulating a graphic control mechanism which includes selected portions which are associated with ideas, topics, or relative locations within the multimedia data set, wherein a user may selectively access portions of a data set by referring to the idea, topic, or relative location of the selected portion.